Your Right to Know

The Upper Arlington City Council voted 5-2 last night to make texting while driving a primary
offense, meaning that officers can cite drivers they see sending or receiving messages.

State law already bans texting, but it is only a primary offense for those under 18. Others must
have committed another offense.

The Arlington ban, which starts in 30 days, is similar to those in Columbus and Dublin. Columbus
police write about one ticket per week, and Dublin police fewer than one per month.

Two Arlington council members argued that the ban was intrusive and overly broad.

“It seems like too much of an invasion of privacy,” said Frank Ciotola, council president, “I
don’t think I’m comfortable with people having to surrender their phone.”

City Attorney Jeanine Hummer said in many traffic offenses “there’s no other evidence, no video,
no radar. That is not unusual.” She also argued that police won’t have to guess a driver’s age in
deciding who to stop.

“This is easier for the police because they don’t have to worry about the age issue,” Hummer
said.

Council members did agree with Councilman Erik Yasenoff’s motion to remove a “distracted driver”
provision from the law.

Under the law, “You would not be allowed to do almost anything in the seat of your car,
including drinking a cup of coffee,” he argued.

Kelton Aschinger, 17, has been driving for two years and thinks tough laws are helpful.

“You really can’t gauge yourself as a driver,” he said of new drivers.

His iPhone allows him to listen to text messages rather than look at them.

“If you have the capability of talking to your GPS or phone, then you’re not taking your eyes
off the road,” Aschinger said. Still, “there’s a fine line between being really deep into a text
and being cautious of where you are.”

Police have had concerns about enforcement.

“I see it,” said Upper Arlington Police Chief Brian Quinn. “But one of the challenges is, are
they texting or punching in a phone number?”

Sharon Montgomery, a Gahanna resident whose husband was killed 12 years ago because another
motorist was using a cellphone, doesn’t worry about enforcement.

“It’s a matter of, ‘I saw you drifting out of your lane and looking down so I pulled you over,’
as opposed to, ‘I saw you fail to stop for the stop sign so I pulled you over and I also saw you
looking down,’ ” she told the council at a recent meeting.

Still, police are pleased at the additional tools to make an arrest.

“Anytime your attention is not straight forward it’s a big issue,” said Upper Arlington Officer
Lee Morrison. “I think it will help the most by making people more aware. We may not be charging
people, but it will be in their head a little more.”